NRL updates: St George Illawarra Dragons vs Melbourne Storm, North Queensland Cowboys vs Canberra Raiders, Cronulla Sharks vs Canterbury Bulldogs — blog, scores and stats

Three NRL matches and three upsets. Not a bad day of footy.

The Dragons and Cowboys have their first wins of 2025, while the Bulldogs are the only undefeated team left in the NRL.

ABC Sport will be back tomorrow to provide live digital coverage of the final two matches of round four.

We hope you join us then.

Goodnight.

Jacob Preston was very good tonight for the Canterbury Bulldogs.

He scored the first try tonight and got through a mountain of work.

The Bulldogs were outsiders to get the win over the Sharks in Cronulla, but they dug deep and were worthy winners.

“Really meant a lot to us tonight, a lot of people wrote us off, being at Shark Park … So proud of the boys tonight, so proud.”

— reporting with AAP

Canterbury are atop the NRL ladder for the first time in nine years after Bronson Xerri’s rollercoaster Shark Park return ended with a 20-6 win over Cronulla.

In his first game back in Cronulla since testing positive for banned substances while playing for the club in 2020, Xerri scored a try double as the Bulldogs made a clear statement.

Without two of their biggest attacking threats in Viliame Kikau and Matt Burton, the Bulldogs’ defence was superb and their kick chase just as good.

Forward Harry Hayes summed up the night when he dived on a kick to deny Cronulla a try in the first half, while Marcelo Montoya made another try-saving play late.

Missing Siosifa Talakai (concussion) and Kayal Iro (hamstring), the Sharks had as much good attacking ball as the Bulldogs but only cracked Canterbury’s line once.

The victory left Canterbury the only undefeated team in the NRL after Melbourne’s earlier loss to St George Illawarra, winning their first four games for the first time since 1993.

It means the Bulldogs will also end a round in first place for the first time since April 2016.

Canterbury’s chief antagonist Reed Mahoney was placed on report twice, lucky not to be sin-binned for striking Dan Atkinson in the head while on the ground.

Sitili Tupouniua finished the night in the sin-bin for Canterbury, after a late hit on Braydon Trindall.

As tough and gritty as the Bulldogs were, the spark on their left edge proved the difference even without the injured duo Burton and Kikau.

Jacob Preston was Canterbury’s best, running a good line to score their first try off a Bailey Hayward face ball.

Deputising for Kikau, the second-rower also helped put Xerri over for his first when he collected a ball behind his back and then offloaded inside for the centre.

A teenage prodigy when he debuted as a speedy centre for the Sharks in 2019, Xerri was handed a four-year ban in 2020 after testing positive for exogenous testosterone.

Moments after giving the Bulldogs the lead when he crossed off the Preston offload, the centre looked as if he had put Montoya over on half-time.

The try was ultimately rebuffed when Xerri was ruled to have grabbed the jersey of Sam Stonestreet, stopping the Sharks winger from having a shot at Montoya.

But after Stephen Crichton stepped and spun his way over to make it 14-6 for the Bulldogs, Xerri was not to be denied again.

The centre cut back inside, ran through fullback Will Kennedy and beat two more Sharks defenders to put the final nail in the coffin of his former team.

As the full-time siren sounds, Bulldogs interchange Sitili Tupouniua has been sent to the sin bin for a late shoulder charge on Cronulla five-eighth Braydon Trindall.

It was unnecessary and risks being placed on report.

Canterbury winger Marcelo Montoya has produced an excellent defensive effort to deny the Sharks any hope of staging a late comeback.

Ref Chris Butler went to the Bunker believing the Sharks should be awarded a penalty try for Montoya tackling Sharks centre Jesse Ramien, before Ramien could ground a loose ball.

But the Bunker has determined Montoya judged his timing perfectly, and Ramien had committed a knock-on.

The Bulldogs should win from here.

This match has been played at a high-tempo, and it is taking its toll.

There are players from both sides dropping to the ground with cramps.

The Bulldogs maintain a 14-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play.

The Bulldogs have taken a massive step towards winning this match.

Bronson Xerri, against his former team, has scored two tries.

Two dropped kicks from Cronulla winger Ronaldo Mulitalo, and the Sharks playing at a ball and not collecting it, meant the Bulldogs had four consecutive sets at the try-line.

The weight of possession and territory ultimately was too much for Cronulla.

Xerri ran hard, back against the grain, into a staggered defensive line and crashed through would-be tacklers to score.

The Sharks are down to 15 men — just two on the bench — with centre Kayal Iro nursing ice on his hamstring. He will not return tonight.

Canterbury hooker Reed Mahoney has been placed on report for the second time in this match.

Mahoney dived on a player who had jumped on a loose ball, and the Canterburty hooker led with the shoulder and made contact with the back of the head of the Sharks player.

There could have been an argument for Mahoney to have been sent to the sin bin. But ref Chris Butler opts to just warn everyone to chill out.

The Cronulla Sharks are down to 16 men as Siosifa Talakai has failed his head injury assessment.

Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton has beaten two poor tackle attempts to score his side’s third try.

The Sharks defended their line for multiple sets after Canterbury forced a goal line dropout.

Crichton brushed past Daniel Atkinson and Ronaldo Mulitalo, then ran towards the posts to make his conversion attempt easier.

North Queensland Cowboys coach Todd Payton can breathe a sigh of relief after his team secured their first win of 2025.

The 30-20 win over the Canberra Raiders came off the back of a three-try blitz to end the first half, and surviving being down to 12-men in the second half.

Interchange Coen Hess was sent to the sin bin following repeated offences by the Cowboys, and then Hess tackled a Raider was in an offside position close to the goal line.

Payton said he had no issue with Hess being sent off for 10 minutes, but was baffled that Canberra’s Corey Horsburgh was not sent for a similar offence.

Horsburgh blatantly held on to Cowboys forward Jason Taumalolo, as North Queensland was on the attack.

Taumalolo went back over his left and appeared to have twisted his knee, leading to a penalty, and Horsbrugh being place on report.

But Payton believed his Hess was sent to the sin bin, then so should have the Canberra lock.

“I can’t debate the Hess sin bin, I think it was a fair call,’ Payton says.

“The consistency part is what we’re all chasing.

“I don’t know whether Ricky’s [Stewart] press conference last week had an effect on the way it was officiated tonight, but the way we were defending on the try-line didn’t seem any different to the way they were defending on their try-line.”

Stewart blasted refs last week in his side’s defeat to Manly, after his side was on the wrong end of a lopsided penalty count.

Chasing four wins to start the season, the Canterbury Bulldogs lead the Cronulla Sharks 8-6.

This game has been played at a fast-pace, with the defence of both teams at a high level.

Both teams will sit in the sheds at half-time thinking they are on top, because both missed chances in the opening 40 minutes.

The Canterbury Bulldogs have been denied a try on the stroke of half-time.

Bronson Xerri passed the ball Marcelo Montoya who streaked away and scored.

But as Xerri was going to ground, being tackled before his pass, the Bulldogs’ centre stuck out an arm and tripped Cronulla winger Sam Stonestreet.

According to the Bunker that denied Stonestreet the opportunity to tackle Montoya.

Bronson Xerri has scored for the Bulldogs, returning the away side to the lead.

The Bulldogs had a full set at the Sharks goal line after the home side could not execute a short goal line dropout.

The Bulldogs displayed lovely passing to the left and Jacob Preston finished the play with a nice offload to Xerri who scores.

Stephen Crichton has hit the post for the second time when trying to convert this evening.

It was just reported that Reed Mahoney was on report for a high tackle on Toby Rudolf.

Rudolf has been taken from the field to complete a head injury assessment (HIA).

Cronulla has its first points of the night as Kayal Iro scores.

The Sharks had a couple of sets at the Bulldogs’ line, and the pressure ultimately proved too much for Canterbury.

Reed Mahoney is on report for a high tackle in the previous set, when he clipped Sharks’ interchange Toby Rudolf high, making a try-saving tackle.

The penalty was on the sixth play of that set, denying the Bulldogs the chance to take the ball and escape from their own end.

Oh, Braydon Trindall wants that grubber kick again.

The Bulldogs’ defence had rushed up on him, and he saw that his winger Ronaldo Mulitalo was unmarked.

The grubber kick was the right decision, but it came off his foot like a rocket and rolled dead before a sprinting Mulitalo could chase and score.

It has been a quick game of footy.

Both Cronulla and Canterbury are asking questions of each other — and each team has the answers.

The back-three of the Bulldogs — Connor Tracey, Blake Wilson and Marcelo Montoya — have been asked to handle some very good attacking kicks and they have not faultered.

“I’m loving the contest at the moment  … No man is walking” —Dene Halatau, ABC Sport caller, premiership and world cup winner.